— a showcase of material culture designed to inspire creative thinkers.
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VISUAL is an anthology compiled for creative thinkers.
Minimal copy, maximum content, it examines the trappings of life from a visual perspective.
What is in VISUAL?
VISUAL features art, furniture, advertising, automobiles, decorative arts, film, architecture, broadcast design, books, photography, apparel, digital design, instruments, and design in many forms.
VISUAL is here to nurture and showcase the most precious of human talents — the imagination.
The culture shaperKARIM
RASHID
MOVES
BEYOND INDUSTRIAL
DESIGN
text ODETTE CHAHIN photos KARIM RASHID STUDIO rashid portraits GUIDO ARENAS - Toronto, Canada
If you're into design, Karim Rashid's name will ring a bell. And if you're into Karim Rashid, you'll know he has a Midas touch, turning everithing onto gold — or, more literally, hot pink. "Pink was out of control this year. I don't know if I had anything to do with that, but I have been pushing pink for eight years. It's just probably a coincidence," he says. Not coincidentally, he's wearing a light pink shirt with a sleek white suit (this is before Labour Day, so the suit is about to expire, but then Rashid likes breaking rules and traditions).
He is an obsessive-compulsive, a perfectionist and an overachiever. These traits may mean neurosis in psychology, but they're perfect tools in the design world. Indeed, they have led him to win just about every designer award that exists. He has designed for Umbra, Iseey Miyake, Prada, Mambe and Herman Miller, among many others, and his work is in the permanent collections of several museums, including New York's Museum of Modern Art — all of which makes one wonder if underneath that white suit he may be wearing a Superman leotard.
"The biggest challenge is to change human behaviour. If I proposed a bed that wasn't horizontal, would it be accepted?"
KARIM RASHID
The half-English, half-Egyptian former DJ was raised in Canada and trained in industrial design here. He used to call himself an industrial designer, but now, he says, "I refer to myself as a culture shaper because I think design goes beyond the elements of physicality. You can actually shape human and social behaviour, commodity and space." This year alone, Rashid has published yet another book, Evolution, constructed a hotel and opened his own store in Manhattan, where he's now based. It's a scary adventure, because I thought I'd have someone back me by this point, but no one has, so I did it on my own," he says about opening his first store solo.
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VISUAL magazine is a multidisciplinary study of physical products generated by contemporary culture designed to inspire creative thinkers. It features the creative process of art, furniture, advertising, fashion, automobiles, decorative arts, film, books, typography, music, architecture, photography, and apparel, digital design, instruments, food, gardens, broadcast design. Emphasis is placed on creativity, functionality and beauty.
